Saturday, November 8, 2008

Race, Rap and the Race

O.K, I know, this is a politics post. There probably won't be many on this site, but since Obama won the White House this week I have been thinking about a Young Jeezy song and it's relevancy (if any) to political discourse in this country.

Young Jeezy released a song this summer entitled "My President is Black." It is a great song, probably in the top 3 on his album, "The Recession." The song shifts aimlessly from a strong desire for change ("Be All You Can Be, Don't That Sound Like Some Dumb Shit? Dying for Crude Oil as Black as My N@##! Boo") and his situation as a black man to selling drugs. "My President is Black" is the typical contradictory rap song, but it's positive message far outweighs it's gangsta sentiment. It must be noted that artists such as Jay-Z and Luda have expressed similiar support for Obama. (The Luda is worth a listen, some of his lyrics sound like commenters on blogs).

The question I have been pondering is: are rap songs such as this, from black men with sometimes violent lyrics, the reason that so much fear was expressed from the uneducated white people who have made illogical, racist statements since Obama's victory? Can it be that rap was responsible for the rumors of a race riot should McCain steal the election? Personally I believe that the people churning out such vile, either on Facebook, the Radio, or even just your boss, have deep seeded fear of any sort of change, that they live in a fantasy world. That's just my opinion. As the Sensei from Karate Kid would say, "You gotta problem with that?"

"My President" is a schizophrenic message that resembles the needs of America and why we elected Obama. We know we have all have different reasons for voting the way we did. Some reasons might contradict others. The bottom line is that we all wanted something different.

Jeezy relays struggles that we have: "Woke up this morning, headache this big, pay all these damn bills, feed all these damn kids." We voted Obama because, well, why not? This past tuesday we saw traditional America shocked by a coalition of young voters, black voters, first time voters, and most importantly, fed-up old people (they dont do computers, so I didn't offend them). Why? How much worse could things get in this country?

On a side note, does anyone think Young Jeezy could articulate one Obama position? I hope he doesn't come after me after he finds out that I am getting a tax break and he has to pay more. But anyone with a Blue Lambo probably doesn't care.